Much of the public debate, blogbuzz, and press coverage of President Obama'seducation address yesterday has focused on his strong endorsement of charter schools, which are publicly funded schools managed by private, non-DOE authorities, some for profit and some not. The Times highlighted Obama's call to lift the cap on charter development(in place in 26 states and the District of Columbia), and on merit pay for teachers. The News gathered a consensus of largely positive (if generalized) responses from education leaders like Joel Klein and teachers-union head Randi Weingarten. The Post focused on merit payalong with Obama's charter mandate.

The simple fact of an education debate at center stage is cause for a certain kind of celebration. But it's worth remembering, as NYU education professor Pedro Noguera noted this morning, that charters serve a small minority of New York City students compared to traditional schools and that many charters (though not all) can choose to enroll certain kids and decline to work with children with special needs or who require English language instruction. A longer school day and year mean that most charter school teachers work without a union contract -- even despite some teachers' desire to organize-- and that often charter school teachers are younger and less-seasoned than many of their public-school peers. Charters that share a building with a traditional elementary school often enjoy smaller classes and more ample resources -- benefits of the charter structure -- that can look unfair to kids, families, and teachers on the other side of the charter fence.

Bottom line, charter schools are a mixed bag, with some showing outstanding results and others mired in drill-and-kill, test-dense curricula. This will come as no surprise to those with experience in the city's schools, where excellent schools coexist with so-so schools (and worse). My question is, if a rising tide lifts all boats -- as Education Secretary said in a recent radio interview-- how does diverting streams of that tide, as kids and their engaged, proactive families exit mainstream schools for charters, still help the whole?

Note: See our articles, published today, about the 24 new charter schools opening in the city in the fall of 2009 and their struggles to find spaces for their schools. We also have published previews of all of the new charter schools.